Carrie Friedman is a dual board-certified psychiatric and family nurse practitioner and the founder of Brain Garden Psychiatry in California. She integrates evidence-based psychopharmacology with functional and integrative psychiatry, emphasizing root-cause approaches that connect neuro-nutrition and gut–brain science, metabolic psychiatry, immunology, endocrinology, and mind–body lifestyle medicine. Carrie’s clinical focus bridges conventional psychiatry with holistic strategies to support mental health through nutrition, physiology, and sustainable lifestyle interventions. Her professional writing explores topics such as functional medicine, autism, provider well-being, and medical ethics.
Carrie Friedman is a dual board-certified psychiatric and family nurse practitioner and the founder of Brain Garden Psychiatry in California. She integrates evidence-based psychopharmacology with functional and integrative psychiatry, emphasizing root-cause approaches that connect neuro-nutrition and gut–brain science, metabolic psychiatry, immunology, endocrinology, and mind–body lifestyle medicine. Carrie's clinical focus bridges conventional psychiatry with holistic strategies to support mental health through nutrition, physiology, and sustainable lifestyle interventions. Her professional writing explores topics such as functional medicine, autism, provider well-being, and medical ethics.
I began my career as a nurse practitioner in primary care, where patient visits are often limited to 15 or 20 minutes to manage complex conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and COPD. What struck me was how often these medical issues came with a psychological overlay like depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and trauma. That shaped the course of treatment as much as lab results or medications. The pace of primary care …
When I received an invitation to a webinar titled “Special Session on a New Autism Risk Test,” I expected a discussion on screening strategies or intervention innovations. Instead, when I researched the company and reviewed its website, I discovered a pitch for a punch-biopsy-based lab test marketed as a way to detect autism risk in newborns as early as two days after birth.
As a nurse practitioner who treats autistic patients, …
At lunch on September 10, 2025, I opened Instagram for a palate cleanser: cute dog videos, life hack reels, something sweet and uplifting. Instead, I ran into a video and headline I wanted to dismiss as a deepfake. It was graphic and disorienting and, for a few seconds, I tried to bargain with reality: This cannot be real, and if it is, how is it on my phone? Would it …
On October 7, 2023, more than 1,200 people were murdered in a single day in the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel, and over 250 individuals were taken hostage. This was the deadliest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust. For many Jewish health care workers, it marked a devastating shift: Our hospitals and clinics were no longer safe, not because of external conflict, but simply because we are Jewish. We had …
I have spent decades learning about how bodies and brains work, but nothing has taught me more about complexity than raising my autistic son. He is nine, curious, brilliant, and completely captivated by chemistry. He can explain the structure of an atom with more clarity than most high school students.
But when we step into the real world (classrooms, stores, even family gatherings), sometimes his brain does not get to shine. …
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